Convertible package

ABSTRACT

A box or carton having a compact closed product storage position which is easily unfolded into an enlarged tray or pan position with hinged side wall portions providing struts to maintain the opened pan or tray position and to serve as a gate providing access to the interior of the tray or pan. In the closed position, the box or carton is a small six-sided, sealed package preferably housing a bag of absorbent ground clay. In the open tray or pan position, the box or carton has a flat bottom and relatively high side and end walls so that when the clay is spread over the bottom, it will provide a bed or substantially less thickness than the height of the side and end walls and serving as a commode for small house pets, such as cats and the like.

United States Patent [1 1 Riccio 1 1 CONVERTIBLE PACKAGE [75] Inventor: Katherine Della Rlccio, Chicago, 111.

[73] Assignee: Consolidated International Chemical Co. Inc., Chicago, Ill.

[22] Filed: Dec. 1, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 94,079

Related US. Application Data [63] Continuation-impart of Ser. No. 830,938, June 6,

1969, Pat No. 3,581,975

[52] US. Cl. 229/33, 119/1, 229/31 FS, 229/34 R [51] Int. Cl 365d 5/22 [58] Field of Search 229/31 R, 33, DIG. 3, 229/31 FS, 34 R; 119/1 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,037,839 4/1936 Wagenseller 229/33 1,425,713 8/1922 Stokes 1 229/31 FS 2,100,644 11/1937 Groves 1 229/34 R 1,021,874 4/1912 Labombarde.... 229/33 X 3,377,990 4/1968 Mitchell 119/] 3,154,052 10/1964 Sweeney 229/31 R X 451 July 3,1973

1,793,102 2/1931 Labombarde 229/33 3,170,618 2/1965 Sweeney 229/33 FORElGN PATENTS OR APPLlCATlONS 716,436 8/1965 Canada 229/31 R Primary Examiner-Samuel B. Rothberg Assistant ExaminerStephen P. Garbe Attorney-Hill, Sherman, Meroni, Gross & Simpson [57] ABSTRACT A box or carton having a compact closed product storage position which is easily unfolded into an enlarged tray or pan position with hinged side wall portions providing struts to maintain the opened pan or tray position and to serve as a gate providing access to the interior of the tray or pan. In the closed position, the box or carton is a small six-sided, sealed package preferably housing a bag of absorbent ground clay. 1n the open tray or pan position, the box or carton has a flat bottom and relatively high side and end walls so that when the clay is spread over the bottom, it will provide a bed or substantially less thickness than the height of the side and end walls and serving as a commode for small house pets, such as cats and the like.

10 Claims, 8 Drawing Figures Patented July 3, 1973 3,743,170

2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN vii/wok. KJW/'k/A/E Da /4 k/cc/o Patented July 3, 1973 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 CONVERTIBLE PACKAGE RELATED APPLICATION This application is a continuation-in-part of my application entitled Convertible Package, U.S. Ser. No. 830,938 filed June 6, 1969, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,581,975, issued June 1, 1971.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to a package having a small compact closed six-sided position and a large open tray or pan position serving as a disposable sanitary commode for pets.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART Packages which open up from a closed six-sided position to an open top tray or pan position serving as a commode for pets are known for example, in my aforesaid U.S. Pat. No. 3,581,975, and in the Robert Sweeney U.S. Pat. No. 3,154,052 granted Oct. 27, 1964. These prior known packages had troublesome central end panels which had to be folded and overlapped in a very precise manner to accommodate closing of the package. Further, in the opened tray or pan position of the package, these folded panel sections tended to spring back toward their folded condition thereby making it difficult to open up and maintain the package in a flat bottomed tray or pan position. In addition, if the side walls were sufficiently high to prevent discharge of the clay or other contents of the pan when used as a commode by a pet, small pets could not easily enter the pan.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, there is provided a compact folded six-sided closed package which opens up into an open top tray of much larger capacity than the closed package and having upright side walls provided with hinged gate sections forming struts holding the pan in its fully opened position and also providing gates and entrance doorways in the side walls to provide easy access for small pets. A feature of the invention is the provision of gate-like flaps in the side walls of the package which in their closed position form struts forcing the package into a flat bottomed tray position and also being capable of swinging to an open position exposing a recess or doorway giving easy access to the tray. The side walls of the open tray are relatively high to prevent discharge of clay or the like from the tray when it is used as a commode by pets. Preferably, the closed position of the carton has only about one-third of the volume as the open position of the tray so that a bag of clay stored in the carton would only fill the tray to about one-third the height of the side walls.

In a modification of this invention, the side walls are provided with inturned lip sections forming additional barriers against discharge of the clay by the pet using the tray as a commode.

An object of this invention is to provide a carton which opens up from a closed six-sided position to an open tray position having upright peripheral walls and swingable flap sections acting as struts to maintain the tray in an opened position and also serving as gates giving easy access to the interior of the tray for small pets and the like.

Another object of this invention is to provide a box which opens up from a compact six-sided closed position to an enlarged open top tray position providing a commode for pets and the like wherein side flaps hold the tray in opened-up position and provide access doors to the tray.

A still further object of this invention is to provide an improvement in the convertible package of my aforesaid U.S. Pat. No. 3,581,975, which does not require securing together of corner end panels to form the tray from the closed box.

Another object of the invention is to eliminate troublesome folding end panels in boxes capable of being opened up into enlarged trays.

Other and further objects of this invention will become apparent to those skilled in this art from the following detailed description of the annexed sheets of drawings which, by way of preferred examples, illustrate two embodiments of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 1 FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the package or carton of this invention in its closed six-sided compact position.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the package or carton of FIG. 1 in its opened tray or pan position.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a sheet of fiberboard or boxboard cut and scored to fold into the package of FIG. 1 and the pan of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view illustrating an initial folding of the pan from its opened position of FIG. 2 into its closed position of FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 4 but illustrating a further folding from the position of FIG. 4 to form the closed box of FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 2 but illustrating a modified embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 6A is an enlarged sectional view taken along lines VIA-VIA of FIG. 6.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the blank for forming the opened pan of FIG. 6.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The carton or package 10 of this invention has a closed compact box position 11 of FIG. 1 and an open enlarged or expanded tray or pan position 12 of FIG. 2. The box position 11 of FIG. 1 is six-sided with square end walls 13 and 14, rectangular top and bottom walls 15 and 16 and rectangular front and back walls 17 and 18. In its closed position, the package is a closed ended tube of square transverse section and is held closed by a strip of adhesive tear tape 19 overlying a thumb or finger notch 20 in the front wall 17. The box 11 preferably houses a pair of stacked plastic bags P of absorbent granular or powdered clay material to form a bed B in the bottom of the open pan or tray formed from the closed box.

In the opened position 12, the package 10 has a flat rectangular bottom 21, vertical end walls 22 and 23, vertical side walls 24 and 25 and flaps or gates 26 and 27 in the central upper portions of the side walls 24 and 25. The end walls 22 and 23 are provided from overlapped corner panels united by adhesive, staples or the like, so that the closed box 11 opens directly into the open-topped tray 12 without the necessity of uniting corner panels as in my aforesaid Pat. No. 3,581,975.

As shown in FIG. 3, the carton 10 is formed from a single sheet or blank of fibrous material 28 such as corrugated boxboard, plain cardboard, or a plastic material or any suitable carton forming folding material. At least one face of the blank such as the bottom face 29 is preferably moisture proof leaving an absorbent top or inner face 30 to augment the absorbent capacity of the clay material.

The blank 28, as shown in FIG. 3, has four equally spaced transverse score lines 31, 32, 33 and 34 and two longitudinal score lines 35 and 36. All of the transverse score lines 31-34 are in parallel relation with the end score line 31 spaced inwardly from and parallel to the front end edge 37 of the blank 28 while the opposite end transverse score line 34 is spaced inwardly from and parallel to the rear end edge 38 of the blank 28. The longitudinal score lines 35 and 36 are also parallel to each other with the score line 35 spaced inwardly from and parallel to the front side edge 39 and the score line 36 spaced inwardly from and parallel to the rear end edge 38 of the blank 28.

The ends of the score lines 35 and 36 are cut through or slotted up to the adjacent transverse score lines 31 and 34 as illustrated at 41 and 42 respectively.

Square front end and rear end panels 43-47 are thus provided at the opposite ends of five rectangular panels 48-52.

The center end panels 45 are cut inwardly from the blank edges 39 and along the score line 33 to onehalf the height of the panels as illustrated at 53 and are then cut parallel to the side edges 39 and 40 up to the score line 32 as illustrated at 54. This leaves rectangular flap sections providing the gates 26 and 27 illustrated in FIG. 2 which are hinged to the blank at the ends of the score line 32. In addition, the inner portions of the center end panels 45 are scored along diagonal score lines 55 extending from the intersections of the score lines 35 and 36 with the score lines 32 and 33 and extending therefrom to the centers of the outer edges of the panel sections 45 underlying the gates 26 and 27. These score lines 55 divide the panel sections into triangular sections 45a, 45b, and 450.

The blank 28 of FIG. 3 is initially folded along the score lines 31 and 34 to provide the end walls 22 and 23 of the open tray shown in FIG. 2 and are then folded along the score lines 35 and 36 to provide the side walls 24 and 25 with the corner end panels 43 and 47 underlapping the panels 48 and 52 and glued thereto to form the open-topped tray. The gates or flaps 26 and 27 are next folded inwardly as shown in FIG. 4 and the score lines 55 are creased inwardly to permit the triangular sections 45a, 45b, and 45c to overlap. Then the righthand end of the tray shown in FIG. 2 is folded around and over the left-hand end with the end panels 46 overlapping the end panels 44 and with the rectangular panel 51 then forming the top for the carton while the end adjacent panel 52 overlies the other end panel 48. The panel becomes the back wall for the carton while the panel 49 becomes the bottom wall. FIG. 5 illustrates the progressive folding operation from FIG. 4 to end up with the closed box of FIG. 1.

In the illustrated disclosures, the panels 48-52 are of the same width so that the folded box 1 l of FIG. 1 will have only one-third the volume of the open pan 12 of FIG. 2 because the panels 49, 50 and 51 which form the bottom of the open pan 12, are folded so that the panel 49 becomes the bottom wall of the closed box while the panel 51 becomes the top wall of the closed box and at the same time, the end panels 48 and 52 overlie each other.

It will especially be noted in FIG. 2 that the gates 26 and 27 have their free ends abutting the edges of the adjoining panels 46. These gates thus form struts which hold the panel sections 45a, 45b, and 45c in planar position. This, of course, maintains the open pan [2 in a flat bottom condition and prevents the pan from springing back toward its closed position. When the pan 12 receives the bed B of the absorbent material on the bottom thereof, this material will, of course, hold the bottom in a flat condition and one or both gates 26 and 27 can be swung open either into or out of the pan to provide a doorway so that a small pet can easily enter and leave the confines of the pan. The open doorway reduces the height of the central panel by one-half but the height of the gates 26 and 27 could be varied as desired so that the remaining central panel section can be as low or as high as desired.

One bag P of absorbent material packaged in the closed box 11 will cover the bottom 21 of the open pan 12 to provide the bed B of substantially less height than the side walls of the pan so that the bed material, when scratched by the cat or other pet will not be thrown over the tops of the side walls. Since the open pan 12 has three times the volume of the closed box 11, and since one bag of clay occupies only one-half of the closed box, the bed B formed from this one bag will only be about one-sixth the height of the open pan.

To further protect against discharge of the absorbent material from the bottom of the open pan, a modified carton 10a of this invention forms a modified foursided open top pan 12a and is formed from a modified blank 28a all as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. Parts identical with parts described in connection with FIGS. 1 to 5 have been marked with the same reference numeral in FIGS. 6 and 7.

It will first be noted that tabs 60 and 61 project beyond the end panels 48 and 52 of the blank 28a and score lines 62 and 63 are provided between these tabs and panels. In addition, it will be noted that tabs 64, 65, and 66 are respectively provided on the end panels 44, the gates 26 and 27, and the end panels 46 being connected to these panels and gates by score lines 67. I

The ends of the tabs 60 and 61 extend at 45 angles as shown at 600 and 61a from the outer edges of the tabs to the corner panels 43 and 47 respectively. Likewise, the end 64a of the tab 64 and the end 66a of the tab 66 extend at 45 angles from the outer edges of these tabs to these corner panels.

When the blank 28a is folded and glued to form the pan 12a of FIG. 6 as described in connection with FIGS. 2 and 3, the flaps 60, 61, 64, 65 and 66 are bent into the open pan at about a 45 angle and the edges 600 will mate with and abut the edges 64a while the edges 61a will mate with and abut the edges 66a. This provides a continuous inturned lip 68 around the periphery of the top of the open pan, which extends at an angle to the pan walls so as to trap the clay material that might be thrown upwardly from the bed B by the scratching action of the pet. The lip actually provides a downwardly opening gutter that will trap the clay material.

The pan 12a folds into the same box 11 as shown in FIG. I with the flaps being folded flat against their adjoining panel so as not to interfere with the compact folding and overlapping of the panels.

From the above description, it will therefore be understood that this invention provides a compact package for housing clay material or the like which can be opened up into a large pan providing a bed for the clay material and forming a pet commode. Flaps or gates hold the pan in open position and also afford access to the interior of the commode provided by the pan. The pan has relatively high side walls and inturned lips may be provided on the upper ends of the side walls to trap the material forming the bed of the commode.

I claim as my invention:

1. A carton having a compact six-sided closed storage position and an enlarged open pan use position formed from a flat rectangular blank of carton forming board having four substantially equally spaced transverse score lines and two longitudinal score lines inwardly from and parallel to the side edges of the blank defining five substantially equal width central panels and a row of end panels of the same width on both sides of the central panels, the middle end panels having outer end portions cut longitudinally parallel to the side edges thereof a substantial distance inwardly from said edges along the entire length of each middle end panel and cut transversely inward from said side edges to the adjacent longitudinal cut at one end of each middle end panel to provide rectangular flaps hinged to adjacent end panels by the transverse score lines between the end panels, the portions of each middle end panel inwardly from said flaps having score lines diverging from the midpoint of the outer edge thereof to the intersections of the transverse score lines thereof with the adjacent longitudinal score line dividing each said portion into three triangular sections, cuts separating the corner end panels from the adjacent central end panels, the corner end panels underlapping the adjacent outer central panels and affixed thereto, the flaps turned inwardly, the triangular sections being folded over each other and the central panel sections wrapped to form the closed six-sided carton whereby when said carton is unwrapped from said closed position the middle three of said five central panels provide the bottom for the pan, the two end panels of said five central panels provide vertical end walls of the pan, the middle three of said rows of end panels provide side walls of the pan, each flap when swung to the same plane as the side wall on which it is hinged forming a strut holding the carton in the open pan position and when swung out of said plane providing a low level doorway into the pan, and said panels of substantially equal width providing the pan with a volume about three times the volume of the closed six-sided carton.

2. The carton of claim 1 wherein said flaps provide doorways reducing the height of the side walls of the pan by about one-half.

3. The carton of claim 1 wherein the outer edges of the outer central panels and the outer edges of the middle three end panels have tabs projecting therefrom, score lines between the tabs and panels, and said tabs being turned on said score lines into the pan to form downwardly opening gutters trapping discharge of material from the pan.

4. The carton of claim 1 having at least one bag of absorbent clay material therein of a capacity to hold two pre-allocated controlled portions of clay with each por tion being sufficient to form a bed covering the bottom of the pan and with the entire content of the bag being insufficient to cover the bottom of the pan to a height of more than about one-third of the height of the side walls of the pan.

5. The carton of claim 3 wherein the tabs on the outer end edges of the central panels have end edges mating with adjacent end edges on the tabs of the adjacent end panels in the open pan position of the carton to provide a continuous inturned rim around the top of the pan.

6. A carton having a compact closed flat sided tube position with hinged rectangular central flaps disposed on side walls thereof, said flaps having a height less than that of said side walls, and projecting into the carton into abutting relation with each other from opposite side walls of the carton, said carton being unfolded into an enlarged four-sided open top pan with said flaps selectively acting as struts by abutting their free end edge against an adjacent side wall edge to hold the carton in open pan position and said flaps being swingable from the strut positions thereof to provide doorways in the side walls of the pan giving low level access to the pan.

7. The carton of claim 6 wherein the tube has six sides of the same height and opens into a pan having three times the volume of the tube.

8. A carton formed of carton paperboard having a compact closed six-sided storage position and an enlarged four-sided open top pan position serving as a pet commode pan, said carton having rectangular hinged flap sections on side walls thereof, said flap sections having a height less than that of said side walls and turned inwardly into abutting relation with each other in the closed position of the carton and in the pan position selectively forming struts by abutting their free end edge against an adjacent side wall edge to hold the pan in an open pan position and being selectively turned inwardly from said strut positions to form doorways giving low level access to the pan for small pets.

9. A carton having a compact closed storage position and an enlarged open top pan use position with a bottom and upstanding end and side walls, said end and side walls having tabs on the upper edges thereof joined thereto by score lines, said tabs having outer side edge portions adapted to mate with adjacent tab outer side edge portions, and said tabs being folded into the pan to provide downwardly opening gutters extended at an angle to said end and side walls around the upper periphery of the pan for trapping discharge of material within the pan.

10. The carton of claim 8 wherein the paperboard is coated with moisture-proof material. 

1. A carton having a compact six-sided closed storage position and an enlarged open pan use position formed from a flat rectangular blank of carton forming board having four substantially equally spaced transverse score lines and two longitudinal score lines inwardly from and parallel to the side edges of the blank defining five substantially equal width centrAl panels and a row of end panels of the same width on both sides of the central panels, the middle end panels having outer end portions cut longitudinally parallel to the side edges thereof a substantial distance inwardly from said edges along the entire length of each middle end panel and cut transversely inward from said side edges to the adjacent longitudinal cut at one end of each middle end panel to provide rectangular flaps hinged to adjacent end panels by the transverse score lines between the end panels, the portions of each middle end panel inwardly from said flaps having score lines diverging from the midpoint of the outer edge thereof to the intersections of the transverse score lines thereof with the adjacent longitudinal score line dividing each said portion into three triangular sections, cuts separating the corner end panels from the adjacent central end panels, the corner end panels underlapping the adjacent outer central panels and affixed thereto, the flaps turned inwardly, the triangular sections being folded over each other and the central panel sections wrapped to form the closed six-sided carton whereby when said carton is unwrapped from said closed position the middle three of said five central panels provide the bottom for the pan, the two end panels of said five central panels provide vertical end walls of the pan, the middle three of said rows of end panels provide side walls of the pan, each flap when swung to the same plane as the side wall on which it is hinged forming a strut holding the carton in the open pan position and when swung out of said plane providing a low level doorway into the pan, and said panels of substantially equal width providing the pan with a volume about three times the volume of the closed six-sided carton.
 2. The carton of claim 1 wherein said flaps provide doorways reducing the height of the side walls of the pan by about one-half.
 3. The carton of claim 1 wherein the outer edges of the outer central panels and the outer edges of the middle three end panels have tabs projecting therefrom, score lines between the tabs and panels, and said tabs being turned on said score lines into the pan to form downwardly opening gutters trapping discharge of material from the pan.
 4. The carton of claim 1 having at least one bag of absorbent clay material therein of a capacity to hold two pre-allocated controlled portions of clay with each portion being sufficient to form a bed covering the bottom of the pan and with the entire content of the bag being insufficient to cover the bottom of the pan to a height of more than about one-third of the height of the side walls of the pan.
 5. The carton of claim 3 wherein the tabs on the outer end edges of the central panels have end edges mating with adjacent end edges on the tabs of the adjacent end panels in the open pan position of the carton to provide a continuous inturned rim around the top of the pan.
 6. A carton having a compact closed flat sided tube position with hinged rectangular central flaps disposed on side walls thereof, said flaps having a height less than that of said side walls, and projecting into the carton into abutting relation with each other from opposite side walls of the carton, said carton being unfolded into an enlarged four-sided open top pan with said flaps selectively acting as struts by abutting their free end edge against an adjacent side wall edge to hold the carton in open pan position and said flaps being swingable from the strut positions thereof to provide doorways in the side walls of the pan giving low level access to the pan.
 7. The carton of claim 6 wherein the tube has six sides of the same height and opens into a pan having three times the volume of the tube.
 8. A carton formed of carton paperboard having a compact closed six-sided storage position and an enlarged four-sided open top pan position serving as a pet commode pan, said carton having rectangular hinged flap sections on side walls thereof, said flap sections having a height leSs than that of said side walls and turned inwardly into abutting relation with each other in the closed position of the carton and in the pan position selectively forming struts by abutting their free end edge against an adjacent side wall edge to hold the pan in an open pan position and being selectively turned inwardly from said strut positions to form doorways giving low level access to the pan for small pets.
 9. A carton having a compact closed storage position and an enlarged open top pan use position with a bottom and upstanding end and side walls, said end and side walls having tabs on the upper edges thereof joined thereto by score lines, said tabs having outer side edge portions adapted to mate with adjacent tab outer side edge portions, and said tabs being folded into the pan to provide downwardly opening gutters extended at an angle to said end and side walls around the upper periphery of the pan for trapping discharge of material within the pan.
 10. The carton of claim 8 wherein the paperboard is coated with moisture-proof material. 